New ascidian records for Singapore and South China Sea

NUS researchers from the Tropical Marine Science Institute have identified 41 species of ascidians, also known as sea squirts, collected from Singapore’s southern islands during a field survey. Twenty-one of them were new records for Singapore – including Rhopalaea macrothorax (pictured above) - with six new records for the South China Sea region.

The findings on the new records were published in Zootaxa on 18 February 2021.

Many more samples are in the midst of being identified. This work was part of the Comprehensive Marine Biodiversity Survey led by the National Parks Board.

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